By Michael Seifert
Asylum applications by single, able-to-work, and healthy refugees who have already been granted asylum protection in Greece and then traveled on to Germany may be rejected as inadmissible in future. This was finally decided by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) in Leipzig on April 16, 2025, after German courts had previously issued differing rulings on the matter. This is because this group of refugees would not face “a significant risk of inhuman or degrading treatment if they were returned to Greece.” The ruling therefore does not affect so-called “particularly vulnerable” groups such as women, children, and young people or people with disabilities.
Covering basic needs through undeclared work
As the court further explains, young male beneficiaries of protection who are able to work, healthy, and single would not find themselves in extreme material hardship in Greece. This is because they could probably find at least temporary accommodation or emergency shelters with basic sanitary facilities. “They can cover their other basic needs, including food, through their own income, initially at least in the so-called shadow economy,” the court stated. In response to an inquiry from tuenews INTERNATIONAL, a spokesperson for the Federal Administrative Court confirmed that the returned refugees would thus be forced into illegal employment. This is because the bureaucratic process of obtaining regular employment in Greece is very long and the so-called shadow economy accounts for 25 percent of Greece’s economic output.
President of the BAMF calls for deportations
The president of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which is responsible for asylum procedures, Dr. Hans-Eckhard Sommer, said in a press release on the ruling: “The Federal Office welcomes the court’s decision, which confirms our legal opinion. We will implement this ruling immediately and consistently reject asylum applications from this group of people as inadmissible. To make it clear that further migration to Germany is not worthwhile, deportations to Greece must now take place quickly.”
According to the BAMF, since 2020, almost 100,000 foreigners who had already been granted asylum in Greece had traveled on to Germany and reapplied for asylum. In response to an inquiry from tuenews INTERNATIONAL, the BAMF press office stated that it could not provide any information on how many of these approximately 100,000 people were affected by the new ruling and thus threatened with deportation. This is because the criteria of “young, healthy, male, able to work” for the group of people covered by the ruling are “not clearly definable parameters in the sense of a statistical data query.”
Greece does not want to take back refugees
However, it is questionable whether mass deportations will actually take place, as the Greek government has currently stated that it will not accept any rejected refugees, according to several German media reports. According to these reports, Migration Minister Makis Voridis told Greek news channel Skai that such a return was out of the question under the current circumstances. “As long as there is no fair distribution of the burden within the European Union, Greece will not accept any returns.”
Links to the press releases: Press release No. 30/2025 | Federal Administrative Court
BAMF | Federal Administrative Court confirms legal opinion of the Federal Office
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